Moscow signals to US readiness for talks to end Ukraine war: Bloomberg
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The newspaper cites officials as saying that President Putin is testing the waters through indirect channels to check Washington's readiness to engage in serious talks about Ukraine and post-war security arrangements.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with US President Joe Biden at the start of their summit in Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin has put forward signals to the United States through back channels that Moscow is open to discussing ending the war in Ukraine, including post-war arrangments for the neighboring country, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Putin has repeatedly declared that the war in Ukraine will not end until "objectives of the Special Military Operation" are achieved, which could indicate that Russia is nearing fulfilling these goals amid the growing tensions in the Middle East following the launch of the Israeli war on Gaza and all events in the region that followed as a result, most notably the situation in the Red Sea due to Yemeni operations, which left the United States and top European states preoccupied, reshifting their focus away from Ukraine to protect the occupation entity.
However, according to the newspaper, US officials had said that there are no clear signs that suggest that the Russia President is serious about testing paths to end the war.
Begging for aid
This comes as the United States - Ukraine's main backer by far - announced on several occasions that funding to Kiev is reaching its final phase.
This is due to the high costs of the war without tangible achievements, as well as internal political Congressional disputes regarding providing financial assistance to a foreign country while the US' economy is struggling and the previously unanticipated Israeli war.
Read more: How the West is 'quietly shifting' its Ukraine strategy: Politico
Additionally, divisions are growing among Kiev's European allies, with some of the bloc's members already announcing the halt of shipments to Ukraine, citing domestic needs as a priority.
Moreover, with EU economies doing even worse than that of the US and with persistently high inflation and interest rates, declining collective financial assistance to Ukraine is being felt in Kiev, which saw President Volodymyr Zelensky almost begging for aid, as described by Western experts.
The Kremlin officials added that the signals were passed on to US officials through a third party, which they chose not to disclose.
According to the report, Putin may be willing to disregard earlier demands of a neutral Ukraine and even opposing that it becomes a NATO member.
“President Putin has stated numerous times that Russia was, is and will continue to be open for negotiations on Ukraine,” Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question from Bloomberg News.
“We are determined to reach our goals. And would prefer to complete it by diplomatic means. If not, the military operation will be continued till we reach our goals.”
Read more: Zelensky warns against defeat in war as weapon stockpiles are depleted
Washington wants a new form of war
However, the US distancing itself from the war does not necessarily mean that it will end its meddling in the conflict, especially regarding its goal to continue provoking Russia and building a security threat right at its border.
The head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service(SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, revealed on Monday that Washington has begun creating “a colonial administration” in Ukraine of local politicians who have sworn allegiance to the US.
He elaborated that the US government has demanded that Zelensky “remove” dozens of high-ranking officials, whom Washington no longer trusts, from their posts under various pretexts, and replace them with "Ukrainians trained in the West, who have sworn allegiance to American interests."
“As part of the policy of total vassalization of Ukraine, the US has started forming what is essentially a colonial administration in that country,” Naryshkin stated, adding that those instructions from Washington were given to him when the Ukrainian president visited in December.
Testing the proposition
US National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Washington is "unaware of the shifts in Russia’s position described” in the Bloomberg report.
“It will be up to Ukraine to decide whether, when and how to negotiate with Russia," she said.
European officials had also acknowledged coming across the report.
“I heard these rumors and I don’t know what to make out of them - if it’s to win political gains, to be perceived as moderate,” Swedish National Security Advisor Henrik Landerholm said in an interview in Washington, where he was meeting his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan.
“Putin would obviously be pretty happy if he could get an agreement based on the current territorial gains, which is of course out of the question for our Ukrainian friends.”
Read more: Seymour Hersh: Russia, Ukraine peace underway, 4 new region additions
Last month, The New York Times reported that middle parties conveyed to US officials that the Russian President expressed interest in a ceasefire as per the current frontlines.
“We’re headed toward a stalemate, a frozen conflict in which Ukraine focuses more on defending and rebuilding what it has than on trying to retake the Donbas and Crimea,” said a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Charles Kupchan, referring to land currently controlled by Russia. “It is a de facto policy shift even if not a declared policy shift by the US and by Ukraine," according to Kupchan.
In early January, the Ukrainian President and his Swiss counterpart Viola Amherd revealed plans to hold a senior-level conference in Switzerland to discuss peace in Ukraine, which would approach the matter based on the country's 1991 border.
“The Russians from Putin on down have been saying publicly that they are ready to talk for months,” said Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. “It may be a trap, a bluff, or a devious attempt at wedge-driving. Or it may be real. Until someone tests that proposition, we’ll never know for sure.”
